Following the recent Hong Kong Sevens controversy regarding the dubious officiating of the knockout matches involving England, it is noticeable that without fortuitous referee decisions in the same IRB tournament in Singapore last weekend, England were beaten both by Samoa and Fiji, sides that were clearly better than them in Hong Kong, although England contrived to win the title here.

In Singapore, first England were actually beaten in the preliminary rounds by Samoa, but still proceeded to the finals of the Cup competition, and then were walloped by Fiji (and a team of seven players not six this time) in the final by six tries to three.

I would hope that referees would be advised in future to show some restraint in using yellow cards, at least preceding them with a cautionary let-off first, except for extreme bad play and consequent damage.